Re: CVS pedantic when doing merges

[Richard Wesley]

At 4:07 AM -0500 2/12/04, m0llbuz_  wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I wonder if I can somehow merge a branch to the main trunk, ignoring 
> white space diffs. Example:
>
> <<<<< foo.html
> =====
>
> > > > > >  1.2.2.1

While I find this annoying, it is really the correct thing to do. 
Right now I am writing a lot of Python code and it is perfectly 
reasonable to change the white space inside a multi-line string.  So 
unless cvs is going to do detailed semantic analysis based on the 
file type (and determining that is a sticky problem all by itself), 
this is what it should be doing.

> I also get weird conflicts during merges where the diffs are exactly the same.
>
> <<<<< foo.pm
> foo
> =====
> foo
> > > > > >  1.2.2.1

I've seen this too.  Are there white space differences?  Or were the 
two lines adde in different branches?  Or are you doing multiple 
merges from the base of a branch (without a bookmark)?

> I even get weird conflicts like this (slightly simplified):
>
> <<<<< foo.pm
> foo
> =====
>
> > > > > >  1.2.2.1
> <<<<< foo.pm
>
> =====
> foo
>  >>>>> 1.2.2.1

IIRC, the diff logic that cvs uses has some goofy things like this in 
it, with windows of around 10 lines or so.  This was discussed a few 
years back and at the time the comments were along the lines of "I am 
not smart enough to fix this, and the person who does is too busy." 
No idea if it has improved since then.

HTH,
Best regards,

Richard Wesley
Co-President, Electric Fish, Inc.
<http://www.electricfish.com/>
(v) +1-206-493-1690x210
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